Curious about your future in higher ed?
Discover Your Courage and Capacity to Lead
Educator. Dean. University President. I have held many positions in my three decades in higher education. But navigating today’s challenges in higher ed leadership requires more than administrative titles. Leaders need resilience, collaboration, and creativity to tackle what’s ahead—and the humility, persistence, and vision to work through setbacks and challenges.
Why Now?
Falling enrollments. Declining public opinion. Budget cuts. Political interference. Today’s higher education leaders are navigating an entirely new set of challenges than even five years ago. Drawing from my decades of experience at a large research AAU institution and small liberal arts college—and all the successes and the difficulties along the way—I want to provide new solutions and approaches to how we talk about and lead today’s college campuses.
What we really need is the courage to make bold decisions, stand strong in our values, seek consensus, say when we don’t know—and learn from our missteps. In this latest phase of my higher education career, I’m committed to helping others develop the leadership skills universities need.
What Others Say
“Pat Okker puts into practice the highest qualities of professional excellence as she pursues the ideals of higher education. She demands the best of herself as she challenges her colleagues to move toward even higher achievements. She is a leader who never ceases to envision even finer qualities of excellence to pursue.”
— Brady Deaton, Chancellor Emeritus, University of Missouri
“Dr. Pat Okker is a proven leader who undertakes complexity and achieves excellence with a sense of inclusion and shared purpose.”
— Mary Ruiz, Former Board Chair, New College of Florida
“Dr. Okker is a seasoned scholar while also being a disciplined competitive athlete who understands the difference between a marathon and a sprint.”
— Esther Barazzone, President Emerita, Chatham University
Protecting the Public Good
I help people develop skills to become independent thinkers and leaders—the true and most sacred role of higher education. Today, my speaking and writing focus on leadership and academic freedom in support of strong, visionary leaders, whose work matters even more now in an increasingly polarized climate.